Monday,
May 10, 2010
The USA and
Drug Trafficking Violence in Mexico
By Cristina Salas, CIP & Just the Facts
On May 5th,
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa) co-chaired a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control
hearing on "Drug Trafficking Violence in Mexico: Implications for the United States."
The
main topic of discussion at this hearing was the need to prevent drug trafficking-related violence from penetrating furthermore
into the United States. The co-chairs insisted on getting answers about what specific measures have to be taken to make that
possible. Although most panelists seemed to focus on what their organizations had already accomplished, they all agreed on
the need to broaden efforts and intelligence cooperation between all levels of law enforcement.
The
caucus heard the testimony of six witnesses involved in federal and local U.S. law enforcement. The first panel included David
Johnson (Assistant Secretary Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State) Janice Ayala
(Assistant Director, Office of Investigations Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security) Kevin
Perkins (Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Anthony Placido (Assistant
Administrator and Chief of Intelligence, Drug Enforcement Administration). The second panel consisted of Leonard Miranda (Captain
Chula Vista Police Department, Coordinator of the San Diego Regional Cross Border Violence Project) and Don Reay (Texas Border
Sheriffs Coalition).
Opening
Remarks
Sen. Feinstein
gave an opening statement affirming that the increase of drug trafficking related violence in Mexico is mostly focused on the
Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border. However, recent events have raised red flags on the American side. These include cross-border
kidnappings and extortion of the victims' relatives in the United States in which often either the kidnapper
or victim had links to drug trafficking organizations. Other incidents of concern are home invasions in Arizona, many of them
involving "robbery crews that target drug stash houses to steal and resell the drugs they find inside." Sen. Feinstein referred
to the efforts in intelligence cooperation between law enforcement in both countries through the Mérida Initiative, explaining
"law enforcement is working to quell such incidents through intelligence sharing between local, state and federal agencies
and through support of Mexico's campaign against drug cartels --the Mérida Initiative."
Although
projects like Gunrunner and Operation Stonegarden have shown real results in cartel-related arrests and in money and firearms
seizures, the United States still shares a great responsibility in the fight against drug trafficking in Mexico, according
to Sen. Feinstein. She continued to explain that the reduction of the demand for drugs has to be a priority, as well as stopping
the transfer of illicit drug money and weapons from the United States that end up in the cartels' hands.
Senator
John Cornyn (R-Texas), who recently attended a briefing in El Paso, Texas, said he was "shocked," particularly about the 23,000
people killed in Mexico since 2006 from drug-related crimes. He acknowledged that violence was not only affecting Mexicans,
as the recent murders of U.S. Consulate workers show. He pointed out that the burden of the fight against drug trafficking
violence in the United States falls mostly on state and local authorities, and demanded an explanation from Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates on why technology, like Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV) and Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System
(JSTARS) are not made available to fight crime in the border.
Senator
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) reiterated that El Paso police officers told her that they do not have the technology to deal
with the current issues in the border, and also wanted answers about why UAVs were not in the border, since these issues affect
the security of Americans as well.
First
Panel
David
Johnson said there was legitimacy in the concerns of violence in Mexico expressed by senators and their implications for the
United States. In his opinion, "violence in Mexico is consequence of a more insidious crime: greed". Therefore, he suggested
that the focus should be on drug trafficking as the source of the violence, since the money generated from this illegal activity
is used by cartels to buy weapons. He insisted violence in Mexico would not be reduced without dealing with drug trafficking.
Johnson agreed with Sen. Feinstein about the United States' shared responsibility for this problem because its demand for
drugs fuels drug trafficking in Mexico. He seemed optimistic about the success of the current efforts and compared them to
a cancer that will be beaten, but that has to go through chemotherapy first.
Following
this remarks, Kevin Perkins explained how the FBI continues to work with all levels of law enforcement to fight these crimes.
In particular, he referred to the efforts to fight corruption with a border corruption task force and intelligence and information
sharing. The FBI, he added, also fights other financial sources for gangs and cartels, such as kidnapping.
Janice
Ayala of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) noted that their presence in Mexico is the largest outside of the United
States, which has led to a great success in increasing drug seizures. Operation Firewall is an example of that, achieving
more than 4,000 seizures and 600 arrests since 2005. Ayala called attention to the alarming fact that 28 gangs in Mexico are
classified as "extremely violent."
Anthony
Placido of the DEA discussed how drug trafficking was recognized as a threat early in President Calderón's term, and recognized
his willingness to deal with these problems through the Mérida Initiative. Moreover, he praised Calderón's project "We are
all Juárez" created to encourage financial alternatives to drug trafficking in the violent border-town Ciudad Juárez. The
DEA, according to Placido, supports Mexico's judicial reforms and law enforcement and correctional officers training. He admits
there is no single answer to ending violence in the region and that it could increase before it ends.
Q&A
period
Sen.
Feinstein's first questions for the panel were forceful: "What can we do now?" and "What do you need to end this?" However,
the only explicit request came from Perkins, specifying that San Diego had requested agents to deal with kidnappings. Sen.
Feinstein said she could look into the possibility of finding financial support for the squads in the region to fight kidnapping.
Sen.
Cornyn then asked the panel to rate, from 1 to 10, if the drug related crimes on the United States' side of the border were
being ordered by Mexican mafia leaders held in U.S. prisons. Again, Perkins was the only to respond, giving a rating of "from
7 to 8." He also noted that California had imposed cell phone restrictions in its prison to reduce that.
Perkins
insisted that it is impossible to deal with drug trafficking if we do not deal with the profits, which is the motivation behind
it. However, he complained about the lack of information sharing by ICE, who investigates the financial components of all
crimes, which makes it hard to deal with the profits of drug trafficking. Ayala denied this and claimed the information is
available.
Sen.
Cornyn indicated that generalized violence is not cause for granting asylum in the United States, and wondered about the number
of Mexicans in the United States who have crossed the border because of violence or are seeking asylum. None of the panelists
had numbers or detailed information about that.
Next,
the Senator asked about what experiences in Colombia could serve as lessons in this situation. The panel told him that part
of the success in Colombia has been the rigorous background checks it conducts on all of its officers, similar to the process
in the United States. Nevertheless, the panel said that intelligence cooperation has been the main lesson learned from Colombia,
and there is hope that the use of judicialized wire intercepts is institutionalized in Mexico. Placido said he sees the same
leadership in Calderón as in Uribe, and there has been a change in Mexico's way to deal with these problems. Mexico wants
a new kind of officer: educated, with degrees and trained with the help of the United States.
Sen. Feinstein
pointed out that, according to San Diego police, only 20 to 25% of vessels carrying drugs in through the Pacific are intercepted.
The explanation, as the witnesses told her, is that as it continued to get harder to traffic drugs across the border, alternate
means had to be found and therefore there has been an increase in maritime transport and tunnels. Sen. Feinstein also showed
concern about penetration of the "Aztecas" gang in the United States and the suspected connection it had with the recent killing of the El Paso correctional officer. This could not be confirmed
by the panelists.
Senator
Cornyn expressed concern about these criminal organizations having access to bomb making materials and possible links to terrorism
groups. Ayala confirmed that in 2006-2006 there was a seizure of explosive materials that was heading south towards the border.
Second
Panel
Don
Reay focused on the success of the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition that has been referred to as the "Texas Star" or "Texas
Model." The Coalition focuses on patrol activities and has achieved a synergy between local, state and county authorities.
For Reay, sheriffs are good indicators of how the citizens are feeling when it comes to security, because they answer to their
constituents. He then called attention to the opportunists who are not related to drug cartels, but are taking advantage of
the chaos to commit crimes.
Reay
then explained that the border sheriffs took a stand against Mérida Initiative because the institutionalization of corruption
in Mexico would prevent the money allocated from being used as planned, and because it did not provide any money to the United
States for these same issues.
Leonard
Miranda spoke about the increase, since 2006, of victims in Chula Vista of crimes in Mexico, which means that relatives are
targeted in Mexico and their families in Chula Vista are extorted. In this city, Miranda asserts the merging of task forces
on drug trafficking, kidnapping and gang activity has been successful. In his opinion, highly visible presence of law enforcement
is important to reduce crimes, but the investigatory component is even more so. According to Miranda, the Chula Vista region
has not had grant funding for the HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) office, an effort to fight drug trafficking
coordinately between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in critical regions of the U.S., for over ten years.
He made a specific request for funding which Sen. Feinstein said she would look into.
Sen.
Conryn accused the Federal Government of not complying with its responsibility of doing its job with border security, so the
question is how to fill the gap. Reay agreed with Sen. Conryn allegation, but explained that once someone has entered the
country and they commit a crime, it becomes responsibility of local law enforcement. Therefore, intelligence sharing is crucial.
However, Senator Feinstein disagreed with Conryn, saying that the Federal Government has stepped up, but a closer liaison
between local and federal law enforcement is needed.
——————————
"Drug Trafficking
Violence in Mexico: Implications for the United States," a post written by Center for International Policy (CIP) Intern Cristina
Salas, Just the Facts, May 6, 2010
